Thanks to all who have created this site for the Zebra. Being that they no longer can export these guys, this is a great place to learn to keep and breed what we have. I currently have a few Zebras in a few species tank that have produced some babies. For 2005 I hope they will continue to breed.
Can you clarify what you meant by this being the first time you've heard of breeding in a species tank. What I meant is that all I have in these few tank are my zebras and nothing else. Thanks
Welcome to the forum KenW and congrats on breeding your zebras. You say that you have your zebras split between a few tanks, does each tank contain a breeding pair/colony? What sort of conditions did you provide that helped them to spawn?
Rob, No problem. Did you mean to say Christmas Beer (ale)? With all that Christmas and New Year's party I can understand.
I have three tanks with breeding groups. One tank has One large male and two females and five young zebras (less than 2 inches, <5cm). Another tank has One large male and a young Male with three females and three young zebras. The last tank has one male and one female with two others that I'm not sure M/F. I currently have around 24 babies total growing out in floating baskets in the parent tanks and also in a 10 gallon tank.
The tanks are all setup bare bottom with slate, rocks, drift wood and tile caves. I run 2 Aquaclear filters on each tank along with sponge filters and 4inch airstones. This provides all the filtration and current in the tanks.
They have bred on their own without seasonal similations to stimulate them.
Temp - 83-85
pH - 6.5 to 7
hardness - approx. 250ppm
What surprised me was the females are still quite young/small. They are barely 2 inches if that. I wasn't trying to breed them at the time. only trying to grow them out bigger before attempting to breed them. But I'm not complaining.
It is amazing how many times fish spawn when aquarists stop trying to manipulate spawning conditions or just leave fish alone for a while. I think that sometimes fishkeepers intefere with water perameters and put the fish off breeding. I have found this with discus, neglect the tank for a week or so and they're off.
Thanks for the info Kenw, Tristan is probably right I think that a lot of aquarists tinker with things too much. I know that I am guilty of this, must try to leave things alone and perhaps I'll have some success.
Tristan, sorry to hear about your RTA and the dead Discus, hope your luck picks up soon.
I hear what you're saying guys, I'll try to leave the zebras alone tonight. Since the zebras came along my community tank has been neglected a bit, regular tank maintenace is still being done but I'm not tinkering with it anymore. As a result my C.Sterbai have bred 2 times.
Tristan, hopefully that's you done for bad luck for the rest of the year.
The Tsunami disaster does make you put things into perspective, one of the Sri Lankan guys at my local petrol station who I'm friendly with has lost 17 members of his family. I didn't know what to say to him when he told me.
